#Yukimura Kodo

[fuckyeahbakumatsu]

Hakuouki remains the only game that has made me yell "dad stop throwing scalpels at my boyfriend" out loud

#hakuouki #yukimura koudou #hakuoki #yukimura kodo

[fierce-little-miana]

may i ask you what u mean when you say that kodo emotionally isolated Chizuru? do you mean by not telling her of her true nature or something else? love your souji route commentary btw!!❤️

Hello anon,

I am glad your like my commentaries on Souji's route. I like making them too so at least two of us are having a nice time with them.

It is true that I must have said 3 or 4 times now that for me Kodo emotionally isolated Chizuru while raising her, without ever explaining what exactly I was referring to. So thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about this.

(However, please be aware that I haven't play the game in its entirety yet and I am playing Hakuoki: Stories of the Shinsengumi which is a ten-years-old game and far from the newest iteration that might explore the subject a bit more. So this is informed by the anime, the movies and the part of the game I have played as of today. Plus by some of the discussions I have seen in the fandom.)

Also, I am so very sorry for the long post.

When I say Kodo emotionally isolated Chizuru am I referring to him lying to her about who she is or to something else? The answer is both, or rather I think the lying and other things were tools he used to isolate her (emotionally and also physically to an extent) in order to control her easily.

First the lying. Kodo lied to Chizuru, and he lied to her constantly including on things that cannot be reframed as a safety issue for her. Let's list the extent of his lies:

Not telling Chizuru she is an oni: This could potentially be reframed as a way to protect her from a world that would hunt her down. However, Chizuru still knows she is not like other people because of her healing. She has to hide it from ´outside’ people. This means Kodo only gave her half of the truth so she can't have a full picture of herself while also being convinced the only person she can trust entirely is him.

Not telling Chizuru she is not his biological daughter: Kodo is not Chizuru's biological dad. Biologically I am not even sure who Kodo is supposed to be for her. He is part of the Yukimura clan but he is not a pure blood oni. This means that the closest he could be to her is her uncle as the half-brother of one her parents. In the movies Kaoru calls him "Kodo-ojisan" (meaning uncle Kodo) but in Japanese as a younger person you can call middle-aged man ojisan as a mark of respect that is less formal than san (Mister/Sir). The official French subtitles translate this as "M'sieur Kodo", an informal version of Mister Kodo. In the game I am pretty sure Kaoru only calls him "Kodo-san". Which would mean that Kodo is not extremely closely related to the Yukimura twins (personally in my fic I made him the (half-)uncle of their mother who was born only a few years before her so they were raised as siblings more than uncle-niece, which meant that while Kodo is Chizuru's great-uncle he actually served as an uncle figure, I love family drama and complicated family tree). What does any of this matter? Well this lie does not serve any safety or cultural properness purpose. Adoption was extremely common in Japan at the time. Kondo Isami was adopted, Inoue (Okita) Rintaro (Okita Souji's brother-in-law) was adopted by the Okita family, Ito Kashitaro was adopted, Iemochi the Shogun at the beginning of the Hakuouki game was adopted, twice!, apparently Okita Mitsu was adopted by the Kondo family too so she could marry Inoue (now Okita) Rintaro... It would not have been shocking for Kodo to present himself as Chizuru adoptive father. What he actually is, btw. Yet he preferred to lie to her and say that he is her father, period.

Not telling her she ever had a sibling: as a follow-up to lying to her about being her bio dad, Kodo never mentioned to Chizuru that she had a brother. Reminder that Chizuru was 7 when her village was destroyed which meant she could have memories of her previous life (I can't remember if this is a popular headcanon or something backed by canon but it was Kodo who altered her memory right?). Hypothetically Kodo could have told her she had a brother (without mentioning the twin thing considering the negative superstitions surrounding them) adding that he died/disappeared. This could have match with snippets of memory she might have. It might also have salvaged Kaoru and Chizuru's relationship if they ever met again (something I believe Kodo was planning) because I personally thing that what definitely broke Kaoru was his sister not recognizing nor remembering him at all.

All of this accumulate to create a picture of "it was always just me and my dad and no one else" (why would she ever think she might need anyone else?) and "my father is the only person I can really trust". This is plain bad for Chizuru's development as a person and an absolute lie.

To this, one must add other ways Kodo used to make Chizuru dependent on him alone:

While Chizuru is well-educated and has attended a dojo for a short while, she has no (let alone close) friend. She never mentioned anyone back in Edo. I know some of this come from otome protagonists being some sort of a blank page so you can project on them but if we compare her to Hoshino Ichika for exemple (from Collar x Malice), Ichika does have friends and relations outside of the main cast that date back before the plot kicks in. Chizuru does not, besides Kodo.

The inclusion of Iba Hachiro in the new games might mitigate that but from my understanding Kodo did put some distance between the two at some point.

Chizuru had no prospect of her own, no goal with her future life despite being on the brink of adult life. Was the plan for her to live with her father forever?

While Kodo seems to be well-integrated in the medical/scientific community, no one seems to really care about Chizuru. No one seemed to have actually looked for her after she disappeared from the family home and went missing. Chizuru was 16 when she left Edo! She must have more or less run her father's household (which must have make her interact with people), maybe she helped him in the clinic and her father must have been a known figure in the neighborhood at least (as a doctor)... I understand that were more than troubled times but no one cared about the missing 16 years old girl they must have interacted with regularly? Really?

As a result we see a Chizuru that is an extremely strong-willed (she travelled alone from Edo to Kyoto by foot at sixteen years old disguising her gender in the middle of a deeply trouble political time! That takes guts!) and rather intelligent girl, yet she is also quite timid and does not seem to have a point of reference on how people should treat her.

The Shinsengumi kidnaps her and holds her captive for months for being at the wrong place at the wrong time and she is not deeply resentful to them? She thinks they are "nice men" deep down?

It takes her being physically put in danger in the place she is forced to live in to go:

???

She has no basis for what a sane relationship with someone should look like. She take being controlled as normal. Ironically, it is with the political militia who kidnapped her that she starts learning how to interact relatively normally with people. Because for what I think is the first time in her life since Kodo adopted her, she is allowed to interact with a multitude of people who have different opinion and act as if disagreeing with each other from time to time is normal (which it is). Hijikata gave the order for her to stay in her room? Well it is stupid order and we are not following it. Etc etc.

My thoughts about Kodo's behavior is that he raised Chizuru so she would be able to nominally be the head of Yukimura clan and his future oni/rasetsu kingdom (giving her Shotsuren, making sure she is passable with it, making sure she is educated, etc.) while making sure she could never really escape his clutches and would never even think about trying to do so.

#hakuouki #hakuoki #yukimura chizuru #yukimura kodo #anon ask #also thanks to this post I realized that is the slowest playthrough of the history of playthrough #sorry everyone

[hiraethum]

Thinking of a scenario about Kaoru being adopted(mistakenly abducted) by Kodō, where he mistook him for Chizuru while they were escaping. It is mentioned in the game that Kodō had the opportunity to take both of them, but Kaoru left to take Chizuru's place; whereas in this idea, the Nagumo were quicker to take Chizuru when they've heard of some commotion in the eastern lands.

Kodō is a mixed bag, as he seems to be implied to be not a pureblood, a hanyō of sorts, he might treat Kaoru's capabilities a mirror of his own. Is Kaoru weak due to his upbringing, or was it simply innate that he had been weaker than other male oni in comparison?

Considering that his characterization is inconsistent alike to Kazama's, his demeanor to Kaoru could be subjective. Would he be as nice as he was to Chizuru, caring for him and teaching him about the mundane life of men?

Or would he be opportunistic to use Kaoru on his experimentations which leads to abuse, similar to how the Nagumo had treated him?

He is assumably easy to convince by authorities as long as it serves his interests, for as seen when he had easily betrayed the Yukimura Clan when the shogunate prompted him to, he did unto the shogunate for Nagumo's support. Why had he been alturistic, albeit passively manipulating Chizuru through sparse information, when he could have had been much forward and aggressive on his intentions? Was it guilt and pity that empowered those actions? Or his desire have his existence validated by a pureblood by caring for one - a messed up father-daughter relationship?

#hakouki #hakuouki #yukimura chizuru #nagumo kaoru #yukimura kodo #he might have been conniving with the Nagumo for a long time before the shogunate #seeing that the Nagumo were able to easily contact him after the burning of the Yukimura estate to ask for Chizuru #in here Kaoru would probably make use of the window of time when Kodō goes to Kyoto and escape #perhaps bumping into the central clans #would he be able to reposses Daitsuren? perhaps :3

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

劇場版 薄桜鬼 Blu-ray box image...

anyone have this in HD? been trying to a high quality version of this for years. 

#hakuoki #hakuouki #image post #Hijikata Toshizou #Yukimura Chizuru #Kazama Chikage #Okita Souji #Saito Hajime #Toudou Heisuke #Inoue Genzaburo #nagakura shinpachi #harada sanosuke #Sanan Keisuke #kondou isami #Amagiri Kyuuju #Shiranui Kyo #Nagumo Kaoru #yukimura kodo

[eleiyaumei]

Hakuōki "hot take"/cold take: Kodo

Maybe it's just my white German guilt speaking but I think we shouldn't, perhaps, forgive racist, eugenicist, genocidal Kodo for what he did, even if he's our/Chizuru's father. (Even though the games clearly want us to.)

Filial piety be damned but having empathy with perpetrators at the cost of acknowledgment of the damage they caused and the people they victimized is immoral in my honest opinion.

Also, from a writing perspective: Having Kodo as a morally plain-bad villain representing the "evil scientist" stereotype in multiple routes makes a redemption or even just empathy for him difficult to achieve. Same goes for Sannan but he at least gets a better chance to be understood in his own route.

(Like with Star Wars: Darth Vader's sacrifice in Ep. 3 of the original trilogy doesn't really work if you haven't seen him as Anakin Skywalker and witnessed his journey beforehand. And even then it's hard to empathize with him at all because of all the atrocities he's committed.)

Kaoru might be easier to forgive or at least empathize with since we know that he's been heavily traumatized since childhood and never was able to recover... But empathy for Kodo is prioritized in EB which can be seen in the several times he's sacrificing himself to save Chizuru (which likely serves as an effort to redeem his character).

It feels similar to the Eren situation in Attack on Titan and might portray a pattern in Japanese media/society in so far as they acknowledge the crimes committed (that mirror Japan's colonization and war crimes in WW2) to a certain extent but still empathize, even sympathize with the Japanese perpetrators while never doing reparations, apologizing or acknowledging the harm they caused to the full extent. More attention is given to the "despair/emotions/thoughts that led to" the perpetrators committing the crimes than to the repercussions and the victimized. Again, this is highly immoral.

#hakuouki #hakuoki #hakuōki #edo blossoms #yukimura kodo #kodo yukimura #nagumo kaoru #critique #hakuoki critique #hot take #or rather #cold take #pls don't try to justify Kodo's crimes #and pls don't say I'm overreacting

[nollatooru]

Who is this?! Who?!

The new bald guy seems to have some kind of story but based on the CGs I thought that it would be the shortest new route :P In second pic the woman even has purple kimono and sorta similar hairstyle to Chizuru’s anime look.

So that could be the shortest route where Chizuru runs into the bald guy instead of Shinsengumi when she arrives Kyoto. No angst or death, just happy short romance.

How romantic! <3

#hakuouki #tenun no shou #yukimura chizuru #the bald guy #matsubara chouji #that's apparently his name #new CGs #please tell me chizuru mistakes him for kodo #in otogishoushi style #running behind him yelling otousamaaa! #fanart

[mochiimiiki]

Happy valentine’s day!!! enjoy a little drawing of Okita and my oc <3

#hakuouki #hakuo #okita hakuoki #miki saburo hakuouki #hakuoki #harada hakuoki #okita souji #kondou isami #chizuru yukimura #kaoru nagumo #kodo yukimura #harada sanosuke #hijikata toshizo #hijikata toushirou #ito kashitaro hakuouki #hakouki hijikata #hakuouki okita souji #hakuouki shinsengumi kitan #kyoto winds #edo blossoms #nagakura shinpachi #toudou heisuke #he is my babygirl #babygirl #yamazaki susumu #sannan keisuke #sakamoto ryouma #iba hachiro #kazama chikage

[queengurako]

Maybe one day, I will share some headcanons I have for Chizuru and Kaoru in my fic setting in modern au.

Maybe. If someone might be interested by it.

#I dont publish yet but I hope I will do it in the following months #(lol after almost ten years I hope. Thinking of the plot took me so much time) #writing #for lapis #my fic #yukimura chizuru #nagumo kaoru #I have also so many feels for Kodo and their mother #gurako's confession

[kurayami-no-ko]

Translation of Sannan's first CG story in Tenun no Shou

Note: I said before I would translate at least some parts of it so here is it. I don't translate the entire thing but just the story that shows up when you touch on a CG. I think it is interesting because it shows some of his views towards marriage, red light districts, weird, disguised flirting (?) and also some very bad typically Sannan jokes.

Context: Matsubara, a captain, is getting involved with a woman and they are discussing him here.

The CG is this right here:

So now, enjoy!

Translation

Once I returned back to the kitchen, I prepared Sannan-san’s dinner.

Then, on the look out for the eyes of soldiers who were unaware of the situation, I headed towards Sannan-san’s room.

Chizuru: …Hm, are you awake?

A small voice rang out from inside of the room.

As the door slid open, so did Sannan-san’s form emerge.

Sannan: Yukimura-kun, why are you here so early?

Sannan: Isn’t this the time that you always has dinner with other people of the corps?

Chizuru: That is the case but…I wanted to bring a meal for Sannan-san.”

Sannan: You are bringing…my meal?”

A little bit perplexed, Sannan-san gazed at me but…

Sannan: “…Oh my, it is fine then.”

Sannan: “It is exactly the time for a break.”

Sannan: “Come, please get in.”

Chizuru: “Thank you.”

For the time being, I was relieved because I was not driven away.

Sannan: “…Then, I will immediately enjoy this meal now.”

Chizuru: “Please do. However, I don’t know whether it will be up to your taste.”

Sannan: “You don’t have to worry.”

Sannan: “In matters of cooking, I believe in your skills.”

After saying that, Sannan-san put his chopsticks to the food.

Then, after picking one and two of the side dishes in the small bowl…

Sannan: “…By the way. Didn’t you have something that you want to ask me?”

Chizuru: “Yes, actually…”

I told him about what I heard from Heisuke-kun in the kitchen during the evening.

Sannna: “…I see,”

Sannan: “You are curious about whether a captain of the Shinsengumi is able to keep a family or not…is that the case?”

Sannan: “For a woman of your age, it is a strange thing to be worried about, isn’t it?”

Chizuru: “Just as I thought, that is a strange question, isn’t it?”

While inspecting Sannan-san for his reaction, the feeling of embarrassment welled up inside me.

Certainly, it was likely to be something that I shouldn’t have gone out of my way to go to Sannan-san to ask.

Chizuru: “I am sorry. I suddenly got curious about it…”

Sannan: “No, I don’t mind it. It was just outside of my expectation.”

Chizuru: “If that’s so, hm…”

Chizuru: “Can the captains of the Shinsengumi also get married?”

Sannan: “…Are you thinking about marrying one of the captains?”

Chizuru: “No, I don’t mean so! However, even when that is not the case…”

Sannan: “Yes. Of course, I was just joking.”

Sannan: “This current situation…of you still not being able to find Kodo-san…”

Sannan: “I don’t think that you are the kind of frivolous woman who would think about such a thing during this time.”

Chizuru: “Yes…”

Because the situation made me flustered and embarrassed, I was unable to look at Sannan-san directly in the face.

It was hard for me to immediately respond to Sannan-san’s joke…

Sannan: “In this current situation, it is not easy for an ordinary soldier to get married but…”

Sannan: “However, for the captains, this is not an impossible thing to do.”

Sannan: “Of course, this is a conversation that is left to himself.”

Chizuru: “As expected, that is the case.”

But Heisuke-kun also said something similar to that during the evening.

Chizuru: “During that situation, what will happen with the wife?”

Chizuru: “Will she live with us in this headquarter?”

Sannan: “If something like that happens, it will naturally cost animosity among other soldiers.”

Sannan: “Then, the disciplines among the corps will also be slackened.”

Chizuru: “Is that so…”

Sannan: “If there is a person one wants to get married with and one gains the permission…”

Sannan: “Then he can rent a room outside of the headquarters and let the woman live in that place.”

Chizuru: “Outside…of the headquarters?”

Sannan: “If they only spend their time there during their off-duty days, the disciplines of the corps will not be disturbed.”

Sannan: “Only like that…, he can get married with the woman he loves and start a family.”

Sannan: “However, he will have more things that he has to protect.”

Chizuru: “Things that he has to protect…”

Sannan:“Especially because we incur a lot of grudge from the ronin who believe in “revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians” while conducting our daily military affairs.”

Sannan: “It is likely that he will involve his family and his beloved woman into this dispute.”

Sannan: “Among the soldiers, there are still those who are determined to that point.”

Sannan: “…Because everyone is still young.”

Chizuru: That determination…is necessary, isn’t it?”

Sannan: “Nevertheless, with every day being filled with violence, it is the truth that everyone’s nerves will be worn down.”

Sannan: “In their days off, the soldiers all go to such places as Shimabara or Yuukaku.”

Sannan: “Do you know the reason why that is the case?”

Chizuru: “Do they go there to do such things like drinking alcohol…, and spending time with women?”

Sannan: “…I am glad that you understand quickly.”

Sannan: “Even I also have qualms about explaining such a thing to a young unmarried woman.”

Sannan: “Those men are spending their days without knowing when they will die. Be that as it may,…”

Sannan: “Mostly, they are still normal men.”

Sannan: “They are still scared of such things as death and injuries.”

Sannan: “For those men, in order to earn a short moment of bliss, will seek at every opportunity such things as alcohol and food…”

Sannan: “And also, the warmth from women.”

Chizuru: “…”

Sannan: “For my case, rather than giving out permission to the soldiers.”

Sannan: “I think that it is better for the soldiers to go to those kinds of places and play without any future trouble.”

Sannan: “If it is an ordinary woman, there is the nuisance of normal people.”

Chizuru: “…Is, is that so?”

As someone who was not a soldier, I was not fully aware of the circumstance surrounding this situation but…

Sannan: “…Anyhow, if Matsubara-kun receives permission, it will be a good thing.”

Sannan: “For the captains, it will be a great thing if there is a good precedent.”

Chizuru: “…Yes, I also think so.”

Quickly cutting off the conversation, Sannan-san directed his eyes towards the tray.

Sannan: “I have let myself get too carried away with the conversation.”

Sannan: “If I lets this continue, I will let this great food become cold so now I will enjoy it first.”

Chizuru: “Ah…, yes!

Please enjoy your food!”

Sannan-san once again took up the chopsticks and started touching the food.

(The picture shows up here.)

Sannan: “Priorly, I had this thought but…”

Chizuru: “Y, yes, what is it?”

I was worried, waiting for Sannan-san’s next words.

Sannan: “The food that you make is delicious.”

Sannan: “I think that reproducing the flavours of Edo in Kyo is very hard.”

Chizuru: “Yes. Especially for miso soup, I cannot quite get the ingredients from Edo.”

Chizuru: “With these ingredients we have today, in order to achieve a flavour close to the food of Edo, I am having to contrive.”

Sannan: “…Only with these ingredients that you are able to get, you are able to give us this food to eat.”

Sannan: “Even the soldiers are not likely to be thinking about having a separate residence.”

“Is that so…?”

“…However, I think that the wives that these men will be married in the future will have a hard time.”

“Why do you think that will be the case?”

Sannan: “Because it will be hard to find a woman who is that good at cooking, they will have a discriminating palate.”

Sannan: “Because of that reason, everyone is likely to get married later.”

Chizuru: “I think that…it will not happen.”

Also, isn’t this also Sannan-san’s joke?

Of course, I was glad about being complimented but…

Sannan: “…Yukimura-kun.”

Chizuru: “Yes, is there anything?”

Sannan: “From now on, for the sake of everybody, I will entrust cooking, cleaning and washing to you.”

Sannan: “For the soldiers who put their lives on their lines and do military work, one thing you can do for them is to…”

Sannan: “Make delicious food and let them taste a comfortable way of living.”

“If everyday here is comfortable, it is likely nobody will leave here.”

Chizuru: “…Yes, I will try hard.”

Chizuru: “Come to think of it, was Sannan-san born in Edo?”

Sannan: “My hometown is Sendai but…why do you think I was born in Edo?” Chizuru: “Because just now, you complimented the flavour of Edo’s food…”

Sannan: “I was born in Sendai but, my preference is for Edo’s flavour.”

Sannan: “Especially, since coming to Edo, I have become completely used to this flavour.”

Chizuru: “Is that so…”

It seemed like my food also fit the palate of Sannan-san.

I felt relieved because of this.

Sannan: “…Just now I said that the soldiers will get married later because they get used to and fall in love with this flavour.”

Sannan: “It is likely that I, too, am not in the position to be worried for the soldiers.”

Chizuru: “Eh…?”

Sannan: “During this time of staying here, I eat nothing but your food.”

Sannan: “If I get used to this flavour…I will start being unable to think that other people’s food is delicious.”

Chizuru: “Such a thing…!”

Chizuru: “I think that it is fine. It is because Sannan-san is a kind person.”

Chizuru: “I think that you will be able to think that other people’s food is also good…”

Sannan: “Do you really think so?”

Chizuru: “Eh…?

…………Yes, of course.”

Sannan: “So, even when I have the chance to eat other people’s food?”

Sannan: “If I who am now a rasetsu is able to leave here and eat food outside……?”

Chizuru: “That……I don’t understand……

I am sorry I said thoughtlessly.”

Sannan: “……I am also sorry. It seems like I tease you a little bit too much.”

Sannan: “I am fully satisfied with your food ,so, this is enough.”

Sannan: “Right now, I am not thinking about wanting to eat the food other people made.”

Sannan: “Because of this…from now on, please continue on making delicious meals.”

Chizuru: “……Yes.”

After this, I was still very perplexed about the joke that was characteristic of Sannan-san but……

Being able to have this conversation normally with him was out of my expectation.

Because of that reason alone, I was relieved.

After I put away the tray of Sannan-san……

After getting a light dinner, I went to bed.

#hakuouki #sannan keisuke #yukimura chizuru #tenun no shou

[towerbetweenworlds]

Before Sannan had a route, my heart went to Hijikata. I still think the latter has the most interesting and complete of routes (not only is he the "canonical" in anime, he outlives many of the other Shinsengumi in history, being alive all the way up to the end of the Boshin War.)

Conversely, Sannan, or Yamagami Keisuke, is the first of the Shinsengumi core members to die in history. He's also considered to be among the most principled of the lot, if a little uptight compared to the rural stock most of the other members come from.

(As an aside: I have an interest in feudal Japanese history that goes beyond my love for Hakuouki, my primary interest being in the Sengoku or Warring States period. But I do credit the otome game for getting me truly interested in the period between the Black Ships / Commodore Perry's arrival and the start of the Meiji Restoration. So my fansploding over Sannan will definitely be interspersed with thoughts of the historic events, people, and places Hakuoki is based on.)

My knowledge of the historical Sannan is why I always side-eyed at the idea that he's just a purely evil and unlikable character in the game. I know it can depend a LOT on the route you play, but...

[I guess it is spoiler time now, specifically for Sannan and Heisuke routes]

...pretty much every character in the game has at least *some* basis in known history, albeit highly romanticized (duh). So it makes way more sense to me for Sannan's cold, calculating, and ruthless attitude to be only one part of his truth, and for his deep love and loyalty to the Shinsengumi (and Chizuru!!) to feature strongly in his motivations under the surface.

I also love that while he's terribly antagonistic in Heisuke's route, he actually subverts this in his own route by *pretending* to kill him to sell his strategy to get closer to Yukimura Kodo.

I won't entirely absolve Sannan because he does do some abjectly awful things, even in his route. Honestly, that's true of the historical Shinsengumi as a whole, which is why their reputation can range from the villainous (see: Rurouni Kenshin, minus Harada of course--he's a good boy in all media afaik) to the heroic but ultimately tragic (see: the NHK Shinsengumi! taiga drama, which generally paints them in a positive light, but does not shy from portraying when their members make questionable decisions.) I get why he thought he had to keep Chizuru in the dark about his plans, but I do think he could have trusted her more to hold up her end of things if they worked together.

Honestly, I think Sannan's depression (as someone quite familiar with that particular psychological condition, I can say with confidence he definitely suffered it, especially when triggered by feeling worthless) makes it hard for him to accept that someone could love him enough to follow him boldly into his schemes while trusting he will not fall completely. The game makes it clear that Chizuru's love is a deciding factor when it comes to him taking a less heinous path toward finding a true purpose in life. She ensures his despair and desperation do not swallow him whole, both due to the chance for redemption she represents for him, and because her blood makes it possible for him to do more for longer without losing his sanity to the Ochimizu.

On the other hand, the dark, twisted side of him that leads him to decide that forcing a kiss on Sen to turn her into a demon rasetsu is a good idea (for example) is still part of who he is. That is something much harder to accept. He can be deliberately cruel, if only to keep people at arms length so he can keep wallowing in his pain, and he can be terrible at considering the human factor in the schemes within schemes he plots. At his worst, he discards emotions and morality as a hindrance to his goals, and that's just not a good way to handle things. He should not be given a free pass to be abusive, no matter if it is due to his fragile self-esteem, his fear of letting people too close, or his tendency to hyperfocus on the endgame.

I think all of us have the potential to rise or fall depending on our circumstances--our genetics, where we were born, how our parents/guardians raised us, important people in our lives, life-altering events that befall us. As a multiply marginalized person, I drew the short straw in many ways, but I am extremely fortunate to have a supportive spouse who knows me like no one else, whom I can trust with my life. Genuine love from a worthy life partner can truly be transformative if you are fortunate to find it. It's not the only way to reach a state of greater happiness and stability, but it is *A* way, and I choose to believe it works wonderfully for Sannan and Chizuru.

Maybe it's cliche to say he just needs love. Haha. But he definitely needs help avoiding the pitfall of devaluing himself and others so much that the kinder, gentler parts of his nature are smothered.

#hakuouki #sannan keisuke #shinsengumi #edo period #feudal japan #otome #hakumyu #yamanami keisuke #山南敬助 #depression

[kaysutcliff-michaelis]

Sannan-hen cast with character visuals

Character visuals for Sannan-hen have been posted on the official Hakumyu Twitter account!

Keisuke Sannan - Teruma  (輝馬)  

Chizuru Yukimura - Shion Aoki (青木志穏)

Toshizo Hijikata  -  Hidetoshi Kubota (久保田秀敏)

Souji Okita  - Kento Kitamura (北村健人)

Hajime Saito -  Shoichiro Oomi (大海将一郎)

Heisuke Todou -  Yuta Higuchi (樋口裕太)

Shinpachi Nagakura - Ryosuke Koike (小池亮介)

Sanosuke Harada  -  Shouta Kawakami (川上将大)

Susumu Yamazaki - Tsukasa Taguchi (田口司)

Isami Kondou  - Taira Imata (井俣太良)

Chikage Kazama  - Yoshihide Sasaki   (佐々木喜英) 

Kyuju Amagiri - Masafumi Yokoyama (横山真史)

Kyo Shiranui   - Takuma Sueno (末野卓磨)

Kodo Yukimura -  Hiroyuki Kawamoto  (川本裕之)

Kaoru Nagumo - Yuzuki Hoshimoto (星元裕月)

#hakuouki #hakuoki #musical hakuouki #musical hakuoki #Sannan Keisuke #sannan hen #Sanan Keisuke #sanan hen #hakumyu

[fuckyeahbakumatsu]

Chizuru's so funny using the fact that her dad's a doctor as the main reason why he's a good guy like she's never almost died because a doctor decided she was making things up

#hakuouki #yukimura chizuru #american healthcare system #hakuoki #yukimura koudou #yukimura kodo

[fierce-little-miana]

A little Oni and Yukimura lore from Okita’s route:

I see I have been overly generous while making Kodo Chizuru’s great-uncle (though it is still canon compliant since he does come from a lesser branch of the Yukimura in my fic).

It is the second time that the Shogunate is clearly made responsible for the bad things happening around the Yukimura family (earlier it was mentioned that the Shogunate destroyed the Yukimura village when they refused to serve them). I wonder if Chizuru, who lives and stand by men fighting for said Shogunate, will be granted some time to pounder about what it means to her… At least I think I am going to explore that in my fic.

Also I see you game, trying to give Kodo excuses for his behavior… I see you!

#hakuouki #hakuoki #yukimura chizuru #yukimura kodo #sen hime #kimigiku #hakuouki playthrough

[blackcatanna]

Every time Kodo appears:

#hakuoki #I fucking love seals #EGG #I thought of that bitch as soon as I saw this #NEVER TRUST THE EGG CHIZURU #yukimura kodo #fuck that guy #bu hugs for seals #actually Chizuru is kind of like a seal #big puppy eyes #hakuouki

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki SSL～sweet school life～ 『Christmas Weekend』 2016 SS

Well, I've decided that this is going to be my last Hakuoki post for the year. For December, I plan on working on that Collar x Malice Xmas short story that I've been putting off for a while and the next Deemo chapter... and then I'll probably try to do something about my non-existent queue since I really don't think I'll be able to translate much in January or February because of my exam... though I swear that I'll at least put in some effort. Also I do want to get back to Hakumyu Hijikata-hen's extras. Been sitting on those for a while because life's been busy... 😅 ehehehe.... (facepalm).

Anyway, this translation is originally from a story that was posted by Otomate in 2016... and I am 70% sure that this image was published with it. Unfortunately, I can't check since the link it was posted to no longer works, and I also can't check where I found the tl for this story (unlike most things, I know where it was located... but it was on blog.sina and I can't do anything about unviewable content). Still, I had this image in my drafts for years with a note blurb about the the 2016 SSL Xmas story so it probably is the right one?

Enjoy~!

Hakuoki SSL～sweet school life～

『Christmas Weekend』

Translation by KumoriYami

——Saturday, December 24

This year, a Christmas event was to be held on the 24th of December, between 3 consecutive days of vacation.

Although the 23rd is a Friday and a holiday, [since] the 24th fell on a Saturday and the 25th fell on Sunday, which resulted in a 3 day consecutive holiday, it was a rare occurrence to have such a Christmas holiday in recent years [SSL is set in 2016 [or so the tl note said]…. which had December 23rd, a Japanese national holiday which celebrates the birth of Emperor Akihito, fall on a Friday]. Therefore, it is very meaningful for those who had people of significance to them such as family, loved ones, and close friends who enjoyed such holiday activities.

However, there were also people who couldn't be included among them. Those who were working for example, who were unable to celebrate or find time to spend together with their partners, and those who did not make plans for Christmas, or even the holiday… Yukimura Chizuru was one of those people.

Chizuru did not originally intend to spend Christmas like this.

However, her father, Yukimura Kodo, was on a business trip at an offshore island and hadn't returned, while her older twin brother, Nagumo Kaoru, the adopted son of the Nagumo family, was spending Christmas with them.

Additionally, since the holiday this year had consecutive days, according to the usual conventions, Principal Kondou asked that the school activities be kept simple. Of course, Chairman Serizawa did not hold any Christmas activities.

It would have usually just been girls… Chizuru had originally thought that, but Suzuka Sen and Suzuka Kosuzu, who she had good relationships with, also had three consecutive days off, so they had gone back to their hometown in Kyoto to spend Christmas, and Chizuru had just seen them off yesterday.

Then her friends from junior high school were apparently going to an event by their new high school to play with a group and some boys. Chizuru was also invited, but as she was the only student from another school, even she participated, she would still experience anxiousness [tl says stage fright… so w/e], so she didn't go.

In this way, the 24th became a day without any plans.

So, what were the boys at Hakuo Gakuen who had good relationships with Chizuru? She didn't know why, [but] she hadn't hadn't received any invitations from them. She had already asked her childhood friend, Toudou Heisuke, indirectly, but he had refused and said that he had something else happening that day. In addition to Heisuke, it appeared that everyone else had a similar reason.

( It was just, the "something" Heisuke mentioned definitely had nothing to do with other girls! Chizuru tried to persuade herself about this.)

(That's right… For 3 consecutive days off, everyone else must have their own plans. Yet I….)

Thinking this, Chizuru had a sudden realization. Because she had realized it was the Christmas holiday, she had a strong desire to spend it with someone, even though it was simply 3 consecutive days off… As long as it could be thought of as a normal weekend, it wasn't strange that there was nothing to do.

（——Hm. Although it's a bit early, the end of the year is approaching anyway, so it wouldn't be bad to do a lot of cleaning.)

Just as Chizuru thought that, she received a text message on her phone, with the sender being Toudou Heisuke. She thought he wanted to call her for something so she picked up her phone and looked at it——.

----------------------------

Subject: Danger

Sender: Heisuke-kun

Message: Even if something happens, don't leave home!

----------------------------

………………

Chizuru stared at her phone's screen and tilted her head in confusion. What danger would there be on a calm and peaceful Saturday afternoon? But if what Heisuke said in his text message was true, there apparently was some sort of danger 【outside her home】, which was why she had been told to 【not go outside】.

She tried to get him to reply about if he had made a mistake or meant something else, but she received no response. Although she did try to directly call him, she only received a voicemail.

(What should I do? Maybe something happened to Heisuke-kun…)

Anyway, let’s go to Heisuke’s house next door first. She thought about this while she recalled the content of the text message he sent.

(It's just next door… there shouldn't be any problems, right?)

Just as she thought that, a message notification rang out in the silent room. She hastily got to checking her phone, but its sender was not Heisuke. The sender this time was Okita Souji.

----------------------------

Subject: Because it's dangerous

Sender: Okita-senpai

Message: You're a good kid, so you should stay at home

----------------------------

(……Okita-senpai is also saying this, what on earth is going on?)

Just as she was feeling baffled from what was on her cell phone, the sound of a a message notification rang in Chizuru's hands again.

----------------------------

Subject: (none)

Sender: Saito-senpai

Message: Regardless of what happens, stay where you are and don't move

----------------------------

Subject: It's alright [basically the tl here can be interpreted as 'it's fine', or 'no problems']

Sender: Harada-sensei

Message: Just bear for it a while longer, and keep staying at home

----------------------------

What could be learned from the text messages received was that something was happening to everyone. And the contents were almost the same, Not only were the contents were almost the same, they were all instructions for her to not leave her home… However, Chizuru was incapable of honestly staying home as everyone was saying. She grabbed her coat and hurried towards the entrance, not bothering with how her shoes were only half-on, and only wanted to open the [front] door and go outside. Accompanying the sound of being hit by the door, Chizuru was then pushed back into the inner entrance [uh, something like that?].

"——Why!? Why!"

Chizuru re-confirmed that the door was already unlocked again, and once again tried to open it, but the door remained motionless. It was as if someone was forcibly holding the door from outside, deliberately making it impossible for her to open the door.

Since that was the case, she could just use her body to press against the entrance with all of her strength to push it open. Just as Chizuru was about to do that, a voice spoke from the other side side of the door.

"Yukimura, I'm sorry… I cannot let you go outside."

"……This voice is Hijikata-sensei!? Why are you here…. that doesn't need to be mentioned now, what happened?"

She was pushing against the door while speaking to him, but it didn't work due to Hijikata's suppression from outside.

"Just lock up all the locks…… stay inside your home. After that…… Until one of says you can open the door, absolutely do not…… open it….. for anyone of us….."

Then Hijikata's voice disappeared midway. At the same time, the suppressing heaviness on the entrance hall also disappeared.

"Hijikata-sensei——!!"

Chizuru used all of her strength to push against the door, and the heavy door finally budged a bit, so she squeezed through the crack in the doorway that large enough for a single person to pass through and went outside.

Then what Chizuru saw was——.

"You've finally come out? My wife, you're late."

Dressed in a bright red Santa outfit, while also holding a large white bag and a bouquet with dozens of roses, was Kazama Chikage.

Then there was Toudou Heisuke, who was tightly holding onto Kazama's legs, Saito, who was grabbing Kazama's arms from behind him, and Okita, who was watching the two with a smile.

There was also Harada, who was sitting not too far away, looking a bit helpless, and Hijikata Toshizou, who was sitting against the door, motionless.

"Uh…what happened? Also, why is Kazama-senpai here?"

""Of course, I came to welcome you to this young master's Christmas party at the Kazama family home!" [I couldn't figure out how else to say this… lol.]

"Then everyone else is…"

"They were seemingly trying to prevent me from approaching you, but that wasn't able to stop me."

"Um…. did I make a promise with you…?"

"Of course this is a su-r-p-is-e [the tl had サ。プ。ラ。イ。ズ to accentuate "surprise" i guess]. However since you've come outside, doesn't that mean that you have already prepared to go out with me? Then just follow me——"

As Kazama spoke, he extended his hand towards Chizuru, and upon seeing this, Heisuke immediately ran over.

"Hold it——！ Don't joke around——！"

"I didn't expect that so many of us wouldn't be able to stop him…"

"His strength is still as outrageous as before."

With a serious expression, Saito tried to pull Kazama away from Chizuru. Okita muttered helplessly.

"Is is possible that everyone saying that there was something they were busy with today meant…"

"Ah, that's right! In order to prevent Kazama-senpai from coming here, we started monitoring him in the morning!"

"I-I hope you're not misunderstanding anything. We were monitoring Kazama, not your home."

"Wait a moment Harada-sensei. Even though you are resting, please come and help me me—"

"I'll leave the physical/hard work to you."

"Hey, Yukimura! We'll definitely drive Kazama away, so just stay at home and wait!"

"Ahahahahahaha!! Even if you struggle, it will all be futile! My sincere love is incapable of being stopped by anything! Surrender to my power of Christmas!"

With six adults arguing in front of house and making a racket, it was inevitable… that passers-by would stop and whisper, while people nearby would open up their windows to watch the fun…

"Please….. Please stop stop it——！！"

Because she was feeling heartbroken from this argument that seemed like it would never end… and more importantly, since Chizuru was more concerned about her neighbour's gazes, she therefore suggested holding a Christmas party inside her home, which finally got both sides to call a temporary truce.

"Wait a second, where did all of this food and decorations come from?"

"Of course, this is the result of the Kazama family's efforts, so be grateful."

"I'll say this beforehand, we didn't invite you, and simply couldn't leave you outside and bother/cause trouble for the neighbours."

"Didn't my wife ask everyone to come inside together?"

"Nn… Is this the inside of Yukimura's home…" "Well, if we had planned to find a place to hold the Christmas party from the beginning, there wouldn't have been that commotion. Speaking of which, who was the one to suggest it?"

"The person who said that they wanted to stop Kazama-senpai's plan, was Heisuke."

"Hey, wait a sec! Souji and Hajime-kun agreed too!"

"……You guys, just shut up. I am rarely able/You are seldom able to spend Christmas with my wife [no subject in this part so I don't know who is referring to whom here], so just enjoy this day and this moment."

"For Kazama to say such kind words… then let's just enjoy ourselves as much as we can. Got it? Yukimura?"

"Yes!"

「Merry Christmas！！」

Christmas 2016.

Chizuru, who originally had no plans, happily spent Christmas with everyone until deep in the night.

END

----end---

original link (no longer works): http://www.otomate.jp/xm2016d3tm4m/cri_ssl.html

The tl I found said that Otomate themselves probably said "Unauthorised reproduction of the text and images on this website is prohibited." or something to that effect of that, which is one of the reasons why I don't make Otomate stuff rebloggable.

#hakuoki #hakuouki #hakuoki ssl #hakuoki other translation #yukimura chizuru #hijikata toshizou #okita souji #saito hajime #toudou heisuke #harada sanosuke #kazama chikage

[eleiyaumei]

My (ups and) downs watching the second Hakuōki movie

A follow-up to my post about the first movie.

(Note:  I’m sorry if in this post I come off as harsh. But it is possible to  love something and simultaneously criticize it and illustrate its (potential) flaws. And that’s what I intend to do here. Plus: This is only my opinion and if yours differ from mine, that is totally valid! ^-^)

Yeah, I’m not a fan of this one... But to be fair to the movie and fans of it, here’s some things that I like:

(+) IBUKI THE FEMINIST – Hyperbolic way of praising Ibuki for saying: “Harada and Hijikata think they know what you want but the only person who is able to know that is you.” (*This is my translation of the German subs which I expect to be more accurate than the English sub/dub but that might be wrong, so feel free to correct me!)

(+) Sannan infiltrating Kodo

(+)  HaraShira – Harada’s death scene & Shiranui bringing his spear to Aizu, fulfilling the former’s last wish

(+)  Okita getting to fight one last time & him (talk-)fighting together with Saitō

What I dislike the most about this movie is the ways in which the narrative and/or characters both disrespect female protagonist Chizuru and undermine the romance between her and Hijikata - in my opinion.

Detailed analysis below the cut.

1) (The Narrative) Disrespecting Chizuru

- after Kondō’s surrender, Chizuru prepares to fight but Hijikata has already killed every enemy (I’m not saying she should fight but her being passive in general is my major problem with the movie’s handling of Chizuru.)

- Harada completely understands Hijikata’s reasoning for lying to her and leaving her alone in Edo but does not acknowledge the fact that Hijikata has hurt Chizuru and disrespected her choice/autonomy (but then agrees with Ibuki that Chizuru should do what makes her happy)

- While fleeing Edo, Chizuru falls off a (seemingly obvious) cliff and is saved/taken in by Kazama.

- There, when Kazama asks her what she would do about her evil-doing father, she answers that she would stop him. – Later, Kazama stops Kodo instead by killing him and Chizuru thanks her for that. Kazama says that makes her worthy of being the heir of the Yukimura clan. For what? Being not too proud to show gratitude?

- Chizuru is forcibly and passively confronted with her father – the reason she started her journey with the Shinsengumi in the first place – instead of actively seeking him out and confronting him.

- Heisuke saves her and Kazama kills Kodo.

- Chizuru takes a journey alone to give Hijikata the Makoto flag. But this is never shown, she misses the Shinsengumi and is taken to Ezo by Kazama.

- In Ezo, she runs towards the Shinsengumi and is hit by the impact of an explosion. Her Oni powers activate – I bet she will heal soon enough to get out of the danger zone. But Hijikata runs up to her, ultimately saving her, and she passes out.

-  When Hijikata is shot off his horse, Chizuru falls off with him, sees him lying and bleeding, is attacked by a Fury, does nothing and is suddenly saved by Hijikata. (That attack wasn’t in EB.)

(The Narrative) Undermining the Romance

- several emotionally bonding/romantic scenes/CGs are left out (see above)

-  Hijikata doesn’t eat her food – It starts out with Chizuru noticing that he hasn’t eaten and then telling him he should eat. He refuses. When she later brings him food with a note he should eat, we never see if he listens to her or not because he is overwhelmed by bloodlust.

- Hijikata doesn’t drink her blood. When Hijikata is overwhelmed by bloodlust and Chizuru notices it, she offers her help but he throws her out of the room. Separated by a wall, both suffer from that situation. Just painful to watch, not romantic at all.

- Kondō includes “becoming a rasetsu” in the things Hijikata did to fulfill his (Kondō’s) wish – even though in the first movie, it was ambiguously framed but hinted at that he did it to protect Chizuru. Hijikata does not disagree with this statement and both share an emotional farewell. Platonic, most likely, but as dramatic as a scene where two lovers have to part (and the music that plays during the scene would fit there too) (Kondō/Hijikata shippers, I get you.)

- After Kondō’s surrender, Hijikata doesn’t react to Chizuru’s encouraging words when she hugs his back.

- “dumped over DM”: Hijikata tries to say to Chizuru’s face that he wants her to stay in Edo but then lies to her to wait for him at a tea house. She waits for him for hours then finally receives a letter from him. He’s disrespecting her choice and autonomy just like in the game but him not having the guts to talk to her directly makes this worse – or at least bad in a different way.

- 1 hour into the movie, with 12 minutes left, we have our first and longest romantic scene between the two leads where they pour their hearts out. All in all, too much too late with too little build-up.

#hakuoki #hakuouki #hakuoki movie 2 #hakuouki movie 2 #warrior spirit of the blue sky #hakuoki analysis #hakuouki analysis #hakuoki critique #hakuouki critique #analysis #critique #hijikata toshizo #yukimura chizuru #justice for chizuru #just my opinion